Fun, random thing you don’t know about me: I love peas in pasta. Add any kind of cheese and I may squeal.  Add bacon?  I’ll love you forever.  Peas, though, right?  My mom always put peas in our mac and cheese growing up. I think it was her way to get us to eat the peas, if we were rebelling against them, but it started a love affair grown stronger with age. This Pasta Carbonara recipe has the peas, and the pasta… plus some cheese, but it’s a little more sophisticated than the box variety of mac n cheese the peas were mixed in so many years ago.

Pasta Carbonara

Ingredients

12 oz. Fettuccine

½ lb. Bacon, cooked crispy chopped, reserve 2 Tbsp. of drippings

4 oz. Cream Cheese

1 Cup Milk

1 egg

½ teas. Garlic Powder

½ teas. Black Pepper

1 Bell Pepper (red, yellow or orange), diced

1 ½ Cups Frozen Peas

½ Cup Parmesan, grated

Instructions

In a Dutch oven cook pasta to al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a blender combine the Cream cheese, Milk, Egg, Garlic Powder and Black Pepper.  Blend until smooth.

Return the Dutch oven to low heat.  Add the reserved bacon drippings with the Bell pepper and Frozen peas, this will cool the pan for the next step so you don’t scramble the egg.

Slowly Whisk in the Cream cheese and Milk mixture.

Raise the heat medium and continue whisking until it starts to simmer.

Once simmering whisk in the Parmesan and whisk until smooth.

Add the Pasta and Bacon, toss to coat and remove from heat.

Serve hot.